Magic Pill: The Extraordinary Benefits and Disturbing Risks of the New Weight-Loss Drugs
by Johann Hari
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Sit-down interview with author conducted by Jay Shetty
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Spoiler:
Hari shares his story of gaining weight during the 2020 Covid lockdown. However, his friends came out of the pandemic looking gaunt thanks to Ozempic, a drug that causes people to lose 15% of their body weight. Hari traveled the world to meet with advocates and critics of the drug. He experimented with Ozempic himself: he awoke with no hunger and felt full after eating very little. He learned that although the drug is meant to imitate the function of the pancreas in signaling satiety, it primarily affects the brain and can lead to eating disorders.
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CNBC’s Squawk Box hosts author for roundtable interview
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Spoiler:
The interviewers open by asking Hari to describe his personal experience of injecting himself with Ozempic. He says the lack of hunger felt strange to him, that he was constantly full and satisfied. While he lost 42 pounds during his Ozempic journey, he also identified 12 risks associated with the drug. Two of these are loss of muscle mass and a possible epidemic of eating disorders fueled by young girls who have figured out how to amputate their appetites with Ozempic. Hari says the risks must be weighed against the risks of being obese.
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Johann Hari chats via video call with local Fox News channel
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Spoiler:
Author Johann Hari recounts his personal journey of having experimented with the injectable weight-loss drug Ozempic. He lost 42 pounds; the average person loses between 15 and 20 percent of their body weight. He says that in taking this drug, people must choose between the risks of being obese, such as heart disease, and the 12 risks that he identifies in the book, both physical and psychological, of taking Ozempic. He emphasizes that the drug not only changes your gut but primarily changes your brain.
Follow the author
Johann Eduard Hari is a Scottish writer and journalist, known for authoring three New York Times best-selling books. He is the Executive Producer of an Oscar-nominated film and an eight-part TV series starring Samuel L. Jackson. Hari has written for leading newspapers and magazines. He has twice been named National Newspaper Journalist of the Year by Amnesty International and has received awards for Cultural Commentator of the Year and Environmental Commentator of the Year at the Comment Awards.
Other books by Johann Hari
Publications
Telegraph UK: Why Ozempic and other weight-loss drugs are more dangerous than you think
Wall Street Journal: ‘Magic Pill’ Review: Ozempic and the Hunger for Less
The Times: Magic Pill by Johann Hari review — how to solve the obesity crisis
The Guardian: Magic Pill by Johann Hari review – weighing in
Washington Post: Ozempic is the ‘it’ drug. A new book tries to explain what it means.
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